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Rain Partier

One of the best stories out of Comic Con this year is the official announcement that Top Cow will be publishing Larime Taylor'sA Voice in the Dark. Taylor is an up and coming creator who started gaining momentum last year for his Kickstarter project to print A Voice in the Dark graphic novels, the tagline of which was, "Disabled mouth-artist writes, draws, and letters the story of a young woman with a dark secret - she's a serial killer." And that's as succinct a description of Taylor's story as possible. Born with Arthrogryposis, Taylor has very limited use of his limbs, so he writes, draws, shades (the comic is in black and white), and letters A Voice in the Dark with a Wacom stylus in his mouth.

It's an inspiring story, blah blah blah... Listen. This morning, I ate scrambled eggs by scooping them up with my toast because I didn't feel like washing a fork. The drive that Larime Taylor shows in learning to produce comic books using only his brain and his mouth is incomprehensible to me, like the national debt or string theory. When people say that Taylor's story is "inspiring," it's not some PC, touchy feely bullshit. It's admiration.

But enough of that PC, touchy feely bullshit. None of this would matter if the comic in question wasn't good. The thing is, the comic is excellent. I've read it. I've raved about it in past articles. And Taylor keeps getting better with every new page he posts on Facebook, where this reporter is e-friends with him, putting Taylor in an elite club of people I will now name drop such as Dirk Manning and Ethan Van Sciver. Success and recognition hasn't made Taylor complacent - it's made him work even harder. You don't have to take my word for it, though I am a pretty reputable source. Taylor's work has been praised by respected industry pros like Gail Simone, Neil Gaiman, Michael Oeming, and Terry Moore.

And now, it's recognized by the guys at Top Cow, who have picked up A Voice in the Dark as an ongoing series for their Minatour Press line of black and white, creator owned comics. And they've got him on their panel this morning, and they've got him signing this afternoon at the Top Cow booth between 5PM and 6PM (and yes, he does this with a pen in his mouth).

This is the Outhouse. I thought about writing one of our usual parody articles about this, maybe where Top Cow, in an effort to upstage Godzilla, has a giant mechanical Larime Taylor rise out of the bay in his motorized wheelchair, but I decided to give it to you straight instead. Why? Well, being a super-important internet celebrity and close personal Facebook friend of Taylor, I've known about this story for a while, but seeing it happen officially - seeing hard work and natural talent pay off in an ongoing series from a renowned publisher announced at the biggest stage in all of comics, San Diego Comic Con? I couldn't write a better fake story if I tried.

But Larime Taylor probably could, and then he would draw, tone, and letter it himself. Because he's better than me, and probably better than you.

If you're at comic con today, head over to the Top Cow booth at 5PM and meet Larime Taylor. And the next time you're at your local comic shop, put in a pre-order for A Voice in the Dark, which will be in stores in November. Over the next decade, Larime's going to become one of the biggest names in comics, and, though he will be forced to deny ever having associated with us for the good of his career, we'll always remember the good times, like today.

One of the best stories out of Comic Con this year is the official announcement that Top Cow will be publishing Larime Taylor'sA Voice in the Dark. Taylor is an up and coming creator who started gaining momentum last year for his Kickstarter project to print A Voice in the Dark graphic novels, the tagline of which was, "Disabled mouth-artist writes, draws, and letters the story of a young woman with a dark secret - she's a serial killer." And that's as succinct a description of Taylor's story as possible. Born with Arthrogryposis, Taylor has very limited use of his limbs, so he writes, draws, shades (the comic is in black and white), and letters A Voice in the Dark with a Wacom stylus in his mouth.

It's an inspiring story, blah blah blah... Listen. This morning, I ate scrambled eggs by scooping them up with my toast because I didn't feel like washing a fork. The drive that Larime Taylor shows in learning to produce comic books using only his brain and his mouth is incomprehensible to me, like the national debt or string theory. When people say that Taylor's story is "inspiring," it's not some PC, touchy feely bullshit. It's admiration.

But enough of that PC, touchy feely bullshit. None of this would matter if the comic in question wasn't good. The thing is, the comic is excellent. I've read it. I've raved about it in past articles. And Taylor keeps getting better with every new page he posts on Facebook, where this reporter is e-friends with him, putting Taylor in an elite club of people I will now name drop such as Dirk Manning and Ethan Van Sciver. Success and recognition hasn't made Taylor complacent - it's made him work even harder. You don't have to take my word for it, though I am a pretty reputable source. Taylor's work has been praised by respected industry pros like Gail Simone, Neil Gaiman, Michael Oeming, and Terry Moore.

And now, it's recognized by the guys at Top Cow, who have picked up A Voice in the Dark as an ongoing series for their Minatour Press line of black and white, creator owned comics. And they've got him on their panel this morning, and they've got him signing this afternoon at the Top Cow booth between 5PM and 6PM (and yes, he does this with a pen in his mouth).

This is the Outhouse. I thought about writing one of our usual parody articles about this, maybe where Top Cow, in an effort to upstage Godzilla, has a giant mechanical Larime Taylor rise out of the bay in his motorized wheelchair, but I decided to give it to you straight instead. Why? Well, being a super-important internet celebrity and close personal Facebook friend of Taylor, I've known about this story for a while, but seeing it happen officially - seeing hard work and natural talent pay off in an ongoing series from a renowned publisher announced at the biggest stage in all of comics, San Diego Comic Con? I couldn't write a better fake story if I tried.

But Larime Taylor probably could, and then he would draw, tone, and letter it himself. Because he's better than me, and probably better than you.

If you're at comic con today, head over to the Top Cow booth at 5PM and meet Larime Taylor. And the next time you're at your local comic shop, put in a pre-order for A Voice in the Dark, which will be in stores in November. Over the next decade, Larime's going to become one of the biggest names in comics, and, though he will be forced to deny ever having associated with us for the good of his career, we'll always remember the good times, like today.